50% of the college teachers are still not comfortable with teaching online: Schoolguru survey

One of India’s leading ed-tech firms, Schoolguru Eduserve – A TeamLease Company, today launched their recent study titled “The use of Technology in Teaching & Learning in Indian Higher Education Institutes”. The survey, which was conducted with over 1200 teachers’ pan India, further deep dives into the current trends in the higher education ecosystem, especially analyzing the acceptability of digital learning among educators. According to the survey findings, nearly 50% of university teachers are uncomfortable with online teaching.

Sharing his views on the findings, Shantanu Rooj, Founder & CEO, Schoolguru Eduserve, said, “We are all aware that in India, the shift to digital learning has not been driven by choice, but rather by coerced need. Hence educators were not completely prepared – 89.92% of teachers had never used technology at all before and 83% of teachers had never delivered a virtual lecture. This strongly reiterates their discomfort with digital learning methods.”

“The primary reason for the distress that teachers are facing is the skill gap. In fact, 82% teachers have noted that colleges have not offered any training to them on online teaching tools and techniques.  Better preparedness is the need of the hour in the current situation. Institutes should conduct continuous skilling and up-skilling programs to assist the educators to effectively use digital tools for teaching, preparing course material, facilitating peer to peer engagement, conducting assessments and providing feedback. A robust education continuity plan should combine adoption of advanced technology and location agnostic learning systems and continuous and constant knowledge upgradation of the educators”, added Rooj.

While more than 92% believe that online teaching is different from physical classroom teaching, they have never created or have had an exposure towards creating courseware for online teaching. Only 3% of the respondents have had the experience of preparing online teaching content. Further, a detailed drill down on the eco-system, as per the survey, more than 69% teachers have never used online platforms for assessments.